The Convergence ofSocial Media & Search

Presented by:Bill Hartzer

Overview• SEO and Social Media in 2012• Off Site Factors Still Key• Combine Social Media with SEO• Keys to Success Social Media• Social Validation is Key• Example of SEO and Social• Google Authorship and Author Rank• Search and Social in 2012

Bill Hartzer, Director of SEOTwitter: @standingdog and

@bhartzerFacebook:

Facebook.com/StandingDog

SEO and Social Media in 2012

• On-page optimization first– Perform an SEO Audit of your site

• Create quality content on your site (Google Panda)• Review Google’s List: 23 Questions to assess quality

– http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html

• Perform a Link Audit of your site• Links = Trusted, Authority Sites• Contextual links are key - on topic• Use Social Media to “get noticed”• Success in social media = getting noticed in search

Bill Hartzer, Director of SEOTwitter: @standingdog and

@bhartzerFacebook:

Facebook.com/StandingDog

Off-Site Factors Still Key

• Get Your Site Trusted (good, quality, authority links)• Human-edited Directory Listings, Press Releases• Analyze competitors’ links for authority sites in your

niche• Remember: on-topic links are key• Focus on links from many unique domains• Create quality off-site content, link back to site.• Deep links are key (links not just to home page).• Get or create “links to your links”• Get a few new links each day• Make sure your link profile is natural

Bill Hartzer, Director of SEOTwitter: @standingdog and

@bhartzerFacebook:

Facebook.com/StandingDog

Combine Social Media with SEO

• Create content on site, promote on social sites• Twitter links, mentions of URL are seen as links.• Post on Google+, +1 the URL, add to Facebook page• Encourage social sharing of your site’s content

Bill Hartzer, Director of SEOTwitter: @standingdog and

@bhartzerFacebook:

Facebook.com/StandingDog

Keys to Successful Social Media

• Participate on regular basis• Vote, +1, Retweet and comment often• Add friends, updates often• Put your site in your profile• Remember: Social media has niches• Submit to appropriate niche sites• Use social media to “get content noticed”• Use social media to help get contextual links• Use social media to get market share of links, social

shares

Bill Hartzer, Director of SEOTwitter: @standingdog and

@bhartzerFacebook:

Facebook.com/StandingDog

Social Validation

• Google looks for new URLs they can trust• Google “trusts” new URLs if social shares (validation)• New content must be socialized within 2 hours• After 2 hours, new URLs are not “fresh”• Submit new URLs (blog posts, articles, even new

sites/domains• Share on Facebook Page, Google+, Twitter,

LinkedIn, other social bookmarking sites

Bill Hartzer, Director of SEOTwitter: @standingdog and

@bhartzerFacebook:

Facebook.com/StandingDog

New URLs need Social Validation

Example: Upgrade Facebook Timeline

• Facebook rolled out Timeline to all• We posted instructions quickly• Optimized the blog post• Wrote other blog posts for links• Shared the post on social sites• Shared on Twitter, Facebook• Originally posted January 4, 2012• Still rank on 1st page for keywords• Post continues to drive traffic to site.

Bill Hartzer, Director of SEOTwitter: @standingdog and

@bhartzerFacebook:

Facebook.com/StandingDog

How we used SEO and social to our advantage

Google Authorship, Author Rank

• Google Authorship is combining SEO and Social• Google Agent Rank patent, 2005• Authoritative “agent” content ranks higher than unsigned

content• How to Prepare for Author Rank

– http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-prepare-for-authorrank-and-get-the-jump-on-google

Bill Hartzer, Director of SEOTwitter: @standingdog and

@bhartzerFacebook:

Facebook.com/StandingDog

Search and Social in 2012

• Make sure on-site SEO is done• Create new (link bait) quality,

shareable, content on regular basis• Submit, share on social sites• Create more content, links to link bait• Social Media: Participate!

- Daily Voting, Sharing, Commenting• Claim Google Authorship When Possible• Social Validation is Key – New URLs within 2 hours,

socialize• If/when you “get noticed”, you will be successful in

organic search, and keyword rankings will “stick”.

Bill Hartzer, Director of SEOTwitter: @standingdog and

@bhartzerFacebook:

Facebook.com/StandingDog

Thank YouBill Hartzer

Director of Search Engine OptimizationStanding Dog

www.StandingDog.comTwitter: @StandingDog

Facebook: Facebook.com/standingdog

Personal Blog: www.BillHartzer.comTwitter: @Bhartzer

Facebook: Facebook.com/bhartzer

Bill Hartzer, Director of SEOTwitter: @standingdog and

@bhartzerFacebook:

Facebook.com/StandingDog